


Serenade

by Moons-and-Glassware (PorcelainCas)



Series: Serenade 'verse [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Post-The Blood of Olympus, Pre-The Lost Hero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 18:10:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14407641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PorcelainCas/pseuds/Moons-and-Glassware
Summary: “Will Solace,” Nico said. They were so close now that Nico could see that there were golden flecks among the blue in his irises. “Are you trying to serenade me?”or the one where Nico falls for Will even before the battle against Gaea and it all culminates on a warm summer night.





	Serenade

**Author's Note:**

> I was rereading the entire HoO series and had an intense craving for solangelo, and also re-considered my previous interpretations of this relationship. (They are way more old-married-couple-bickering in canon than I ever wrote them!) So this basically a different version of [the first post-BoO solangelo fic I wrote](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4049608). This is mostly me trying to present them as Riordan has presented them (as a bickering pair who still love each other a lot), and stretches their first main interaction to just before The Lost Hero.
> 
> This also went a little more fighty-actiony than I intended, but it might just also be my other intense craving for a classic pjo quest-style solangelo fanfic. I listened to [this soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75EVP7LVZys) a lot, and it mostly matches with the last part than the others.
> 
> warning for canon unrequited Percy/Nico
> 
> my pjo pseud is changing soon, so look out for that I guess

“You showed up pretty early for the sing-along.”

Nico glanced up to see a demigod standing beside him with a large yellow scarf nearly obscuring his face. With the scarf, it was hard to tell who it was but Nico was sure it was someone from the Apollo cabin. He searched his memory for his name. What was it again? It started with an ‘S’ or a ‘W’…

“I’m Will. I’m the head counselor of the Apollo cabin,” the demigod introduced himself after the silence stretched out a little too long. He held out a gloved hand in front of Nico while pulling down the scarf from his mouth to smile wryly at him.

Nico looked at his outstretched hand and then turned his head away, hugging his knees closer to himself. “I knew that.” Will Solace, of course he knew him. They had fought together in many different battles, the latest being the war at Manhattan just last summer before Percy… Nico clenched his fists at the thought.

Will lowered his rejected hand like it was no big deal. He put them into the pockets of his winter jacket. “None of us see you around very often so I just wanted to make sure you knew me.”

“Hmpt.”

Will shuffled his feet in the silence that followed. It wasn’t like Nico was _trying_ to be rude or anything. He just had nothing to say, and there was no point in trying to make friends if he was just going to end up leaving the next day. Still, he realized that he was being kind of rude anyways, but he wasn’t sure what he could say. Remaining silent would be better – then he wouldn’t be able to say something that would scare even more people away from him.

“So, are you planning on leading the song tonight?” Will asked, taking a seat beside Nico on the frozen log. When Nico looked over, he could see that the other boy was still smiling all friendly at him, and for some reason that irritated him.

“No,” Nico replied without hesitation. He stared into the flickering bonfire in front of him that was fighting against the frigid temperatures. “I’m not here to sing. I was just cold.”

“Well, nothing warms people up better than a song,” Will said, giving Nico an almost concerned one-over. Nico scowled, curling up tighter into himself and shifting slightly away from the head counselor. He wasn’t here to participate in camp activities, especially with people who he knew didn’t even _want_ him around, him being a creepy son of Hades and all.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” he said shortly. This was completely pointless: he had hoped to drop by Camp Half-Blood to search for clues as to where Percy disappeared off to, but so far, he had turned up with absolutely nothing. He needed somewhere to think in silence, where he wouldn’t be bothered by other demigods. Maybe this encounter with Will was a sign that he was overstaying his welcome. Nobody wanted him in the camp either, unless he had something to offer. And right now, he couldn’t even begin to solve the mystery behind Percy’s disappearance. Utterly useless. It made him itch to fight something. Throw himself into a hoard of monsters and fight them until every last one of them was slaughtered and back to Tartarus where they belonged.

And then suddenly he was reminded of Camp Jupiter. _Of course_.

He stood up abruptly and began to exit the amphitheatre, thinking of restocking anything he would need at the Big House before he headed out, preferably through shadow-travelling…

“Hey, I get not wanting to participate,” Will said, having gotten up and was now following him. “But where are you going?”

Nico tried to hide his annoyance. What was Will even trying to do? Get Nico to _stay_? The thought was laughable. “I need to look for Percy,” he stated. “As you might have noticed, he’s been missing for two days now, and we still have nothing. No information. No clues. Nothing.”

“Nico, we’re all concerned about Percy, but we’re doing as much as we can. Everyone is looking for him. Annabeth is doing all that she can right now and she says she has a lead.”

He tried not to flinch at the mention of Annabeth’s name. He knew that she was working day and night to find Percy, but a tiny part of Nico deep inside was shouting: no! You need to be the one to find him! Maybe then he’ll actually pay attention to you!

It was stupid, but Nico couldn’t help it. Like always. A chained-up servant to his emotions. It made him angry at himself, but his heart wouldn’t stop yelling _Percy this! Percy that!_ every time he wanted to catch a rest.

“Well I’m searching too,” Nico countered, turning around to look at Will. “And I think I might also have a lead. I’ll just need to check it, and that means I’m leaving. Now.”

Nico wasn’t sure if he was just imagining things, but Will’s face seemed to fall. Or maybe that was just how he looked whenever he was dealing with Nico di Angelo, the friendless kid with the creepy skeleton army. Whatever – it wasn’t like Will was the type of person who would stop him. They’d barely spoken to each other in the past few years, even though they were about the same age and Nico once had Will’s back in a battle two years ago at Camp, holding off enemies while Will rushed to heal the wounded. Anyways, Nico’s impression of Will was that he wouldn’t try to stop him, especially if he said he had another lead on Percy. He seemed to be an laidback kind of guy who would let him do what he wanted.

Nico was wrong.

“I know Percy is one of your closest friends, but you don’t need to exert yourself like this,” Will argued, jogging a couple of paces in front of Nico. He stopped a few feet ahead of him, facing him with his arms crossed and blue eyes fixed on him.

“Whatever,” Nico muttered, averting his eyes from Will’s intense glare. He tried to sidestep the other boy without success.

“No,” Will said adamantly, standing his ground. Nico cursed internally at how determined and stubborn Will was. He looked up with a scowl – about to tell Will off and maybe cement his bad reputation at the camp for good, by scaring Will a bit with skeletal zombies – and realized he was now standing a _bit_ too close to him. Their faces were inches apart, and Will had that steely I’m-Mad-At-You-But-Only-Because-I-Care look in his eyes that sent an unfamiliar jolt down Nico’s spine. Will seemed to notice that he was standing too close, because something flickered in his eyes so fast that Nico didn’t have time to interpret it. And even if he _did_ have time, Nico was too busy freaking out about that sudden rush of electricity to take it all in.

Nico took a step back.

If he didn’t know any better, he would think that Will was actually a son of Zeus in disguise trying to threaten him. That jolt of electricity… He narrowed his eyes at Will, wondering what he was up to.

Will cleared his throat, the tips of his ears turning red. Whether it was from the cold or something else, Nico didn’t know. “Anyways, I think you should stick around at least until the end of the sing-along.”

“I’m really in no mood for that.”

Will huffed and Nico thought that he was going to come up with more asinine excuses. In fact, Nico was wondering why he was still here – he could have easily slipped into the shadows and shadow-jumped to the Big House and avoid this whole confrontation. Still… His finger twitched, aching to twist the skull ring on his hand.

Will had taken off one of his gloves now and was digging through his bag. Finally, he seemed to find the thing he was looking for and pulled it out, handing it to Nico. “Here.”

Nico frowned at the object – it was thin, ivory…a flute? Though it was much shorter than what he was accustomed to and there was only one key to press. “Is this what you were planning to play at the sing-along?”

Nico wasn’t trying to banter with him, but Will cracked a smile and there it was again – the sudden electrifying nerves, this time in his chest. “No,” Will said, “But if you’re going on a solo mission, this might be useful if you ever get in trouble. When you play it, it alerts me of where you are and your condition in case you’re injured. It was a gift I got from my dad a few years ago.”

“So, a stalking device,” Nico said, but he reached out and picked up the flute. The tips of his fingers brushed against Will’s hand and there was the tingly sensation again – Nico retracted his hand quickly and almost dropped the flute. It was lightweight and warm, and it seemed to thrum with life in his cold hands.

The tips of Will’s ears turned red again and this time he was _definitely_ blushing. Will tugged his scarf back up over his nose. “Or a signal to guide the cavalry.”

“You’re a healer,” Nico pointed out.

“The cavalry can consist of healers,” Will rebutted. Nico almost, _almost_ started smiling before he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to be making friends in the first place. He stared at the ivory flute in his hand. The other demigods thought he was _creepy_. He needed to keep his distance from the other campers and find Percy before the day was over. His expression hardened over. He had no time to be chatting with other demigods when it didn’t relate directly to the task on hand. Anyways, Nico always went on solo missions. He didn’t know why Will was suddenly so concerned about him getting injured. Who cared if he went missing anyways? Certainly no one in Camp Half-Blood would notice and Camp Jupiter would breathe easier without an Ambassador of Pluto visiting them every second week.

“You’re getting that moody look,” Will commented and Nico felt himself flush red despite himself.

“I’m leaving now,” Nico announced, ignoring his observation, and this time Will stepped aside to let him pass. Nico paused for a second and then hesitantly turned around to face Will. “Thank you,” he said tentatively, holding up the flute. “I personally don’t think I’ll need it but –”

“Okay, okay, I got it, Mr. I’m-Invincible,” Will said holding his hands up in defense. Though Nico could only see his eyes, he could almost swear that Will was smiling under the scarf. Nico scowled and was about to say something else but he heard the sound of campers approaching the amphitheatre for the nightly sing-along and decided it was time to go.

Later on, he could hear the rowdy sounds of the sing-along just as he was leaving the Big House with his pack full of supplies. He felt something twinge inside of him while listening to them sing their hearts out into the night. Nico wondered what it would be like if the campers didn’t think he was creepy or weird. Maybe he wouldn’t be such an outcast. Maybe he would be sitting with the rest of the campers and sing-scream his heart out with the others… And Will – what was up with that guy?

He shook his head. This was no time to be reflecting on what could have been and drown in self-pity. He needed to find Percy, and fast. Nico focused on the shadows, reaching out and setting a destination in mind. Then he let the shadows whisk him away, leaving a cold shadow in the place where he stood.

 

It turned out that Nico didn’t need Will’s flute for his trip to Camp Jupiter, but he _could have_ used it when he got sucked into Tartarus, insulted by Akhlys – the goddess of Misery who proclaimed him to be a perfect embodiment of pain and suffering (as if that didn’t make him feel worse than he already did), and then tortured by Gaea and her cronies and subjected to his worse nightmares over and over again in that awful place. Then he was promptly stuffed into a bronze jar where he was rendered completely helpless and was also dying by the second.

To sum it up, Nico was having a pretty bad week. One of the worst weeks of his life, actually. No matter how hard he tried to look for an escape, there was simply nothing. He remembered that Ares had been trapped once in the bronze jar and escaped only with the help of Hermes. Nico wasn’t even sure if anybody knew where he was.

 _This is how it ends_ , he thought.

Then he suddenly remembered the flute, stuffed in the inside pocket of his aviator jacket. Thank the gods that the giants were too stupid to completely disarm him – or maybe they were confident he would die in the jar no matter what. The thought wasn’t comforting. When a quick scan showed that the twins weren’t around, Nico brought the flute to his mouth, pressing his lips before the opening of the instrument and blew into it.

It was a bad idea to do that in a hot, airless container, because he immediately felt like someone had slurped all the grey matter out of his brain through a straw. He slumped over, the flute slipping out of his fingers and shattering into pieces against the bottom of the jar, and he blacked out.

 

“Nico…Nico!”

There was a voice calling him name and getting louder with every second and cutting straight through the heavy darkness and the background static. Nico grumbled in his sleep. _Leave me alone_. He hadn’t spoken but he could feel the sound of his voice reverberating in his head, echoing into the shadows.

“What happened to you?” Something bright was approaching, searing away at the darkness.

 _Sleeping_. He tried to put his arm over his eyes before he realized that he had no arms. A bodiless dream. Great.

“You need to wake up. You’re in danger.”

 _Think I know that already_.

There was a pause and then a sharp intake of breath. “Nico… I can barely feel your pulse. You’re dying”

 _Think I’m already dead_. His words were slurring together, even in his head. He felt like giggling but that took too much energy. His entire body was humming like a pile of pine-needles, and it wasn’t because he was on too much laughing gas at the dentist office.

The voice was insistent though. “You’re in the Ancient Lands.” There was disbelief in the tone. “Nico, why are you even here? What are you doing here? You’ve been gone for _months_ with no word – which, granted, is what you usually do. Anyway, there’s no time for this. You’re dying, and I don’t think I can get to you in time _or_ even get to you at all – gods, this is so frustrating! I – I feel so helpless. So _useless_. What’s the point of even knowing where you are if I can’t get there in time?”

 _Pomegranate seeds_ , Nico thought before the voice could go on and rant some more. The other person sounded angry, and Nico didn’t blame them. He would be pretty angry too if he was dragged into a bodiless dream like this too.

“What?”

 _This is a dream, right?_ It took all his concentration to focus and root himself. _If it is…I need you to retrieve me something and pass it on to me. I need pomegranate seeds, specifically from Persephone’s garden._

“I think… I think we might have a small stock at the infirmary. But that’s it. Wait.” There was suddenly a vacuum where the voice once was before something took its place again. “A couple of seeds… There’s six in total.”

Nico was coming into awareness now, though still in an incorporeal form. His heart sank at the news of the meager proportions. _It’ll have to be enough_.

“I can get more,” the voice – he was certain it was Will Solace – insisted.

 _No_ , Nico thought forcefully. _I won’t have enough time. And your flute – it broke. Once we leave this dream, you won’t be able to contact me anymore. This will have to do. Meanwhile, if anyone’s coming my way, tell them where I am. Otherwise…_ Otherwise, he was dead.

“Nico…” Will began. There was a pause. “Okay.” He felt something small and sticky being pressed into what should have been his hands. Pomegranate seeds. “Good luck.” 

 

He woke with a gasp and then started choking. The air was completely stale now, and his lungs were screaming for oxygen. The darkness pressed against the edges of his sight and he willed himself to remain calm even though he couldn’t breathe. Slowly, Nico un-cupped his shaking hands, looking at the six glistening red seeds. Then he picked one up and swallowed it, forcing his consciousness to shrink inside his head, becoming as tiny as a pomegranate seeds. The world lost focus and he drifted into a death trance.

 

“That guy – Will Solace from camp – he was the one who told us exactly where you were before we even knew where to look. He IM’ed Leo just after we arrived at Camp Jupiter,” Piper was saying as they debriefed in the dining area. Nico still felt pretty bad – scratch that – freaking _awful_ about Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus. Like his life couldn’t be worse. Akhlys was wrong about him being miserable the first time, because he definitely felt so much worse now. Though hearing Will’s name perked him up a bit and he looked up to see three expectant demigods looking at him (the other two were manning the helm along with Coach Hedge).

“Tell him thanks,” Nico muttered, looking down at his plate of pancakes, though he had no appetite after what went down in Rome.

“How did he even know?” Hazel asked. “We were only aware because Percy had a dream…” She trailed off and the mood suddenly felt morose. “And Gaea wanted us to know,” she finished, pulling the conversation away from that topic.

“If Will knew, then Gaea might be trying to target him somehow,” Frank added in. “He’s protected by your camp’s borders for now, but we don’t know if she might send eidolons to possess him.”

The thought of an eidolon possessing Will made Nico angry. He clenched his hands into fists and then he smoothed them against his pants. “No,” he said on an exhale, looking up at them. “Gaea’s not going to send anything after him, or I’ll personally see to her demise myself even after she’s been destroyed. I’ll follow her into the depths of the Underwood and make sure she _never_ recovers consciousness again.” He didn’t mean it to sound so threatening, but Frank and Piper seemed alarmed, and Hazel looked like she wanted to reach out and hug him.

He took a deep breath in and exhaled. Maybe what he said was a bit of an overkill. “Anyways, I don’t think she’s focused on Will. He only knew because he offered his assistance a while back and I used the item he gave me to call to him when I was stuck in the jar.” He shuddered at the memory of the bronze jar and his adventures of slowly suffocating to death.

The other three nodded and looked relieved, though Nico could only think that he owed Will a _big_ favour after he had basically saved his life. If it weren’t for him retrieving those pomegranate seeds… Nico wasn’t even sure how Will was able to do it in a dream – though it must have been one of the powers associated with the magical flute that he gave to Nico. Which Nico broke. Which meant that he wouldn’t be seeing Will again unless he made it back to camp in one piece.

Wait – what was he thinking? He had to get to Epirus and get Percy and Annabeth out of Tartarus. It wasn’t the time to be thinking of Will and Camp Half-Blood, and if Nico never saw him again, well so what? He could probably tell him in afterlife how thankful he was for the pomegranate seeds from his stepmother’s garden. For now, he had a mission from Percy to complete.

 

Surprisingly, the injured demigods didn’t actually find Nico’s presence in the infirmary all that horrible. The other medics seemed relieved that there was someone else on the team, even if they were inexperienced and also a son of Hades. No one read Nico helping out as an omen of certain death, and he was thankful for that.

Nico mostly managing the easy tasks such making sure the storages were stocked up and feeding ambrosia and nectar to some demigods. Though he was kept busy, he would often glance over to see Will rushing around in his green doctor scrubs, helping to mend wounds and stitch limbs back together – that demigod was _seriously_ talented. And watching Will completely concentrated on the task, fingers moving quickly and expertly over a wound…well, Nico didn’t know exactly why that made his face feel all hot.

Finally, the demigods for the evening shift came and Will and Nico were released from the infirmary, having changed back into their camp clothing. Will let out a breath of relief and pulled off his medical gloves. Nico stared at Will’s fingers for a moment before he realized what he was doing and looked away.

“Well I didn’t have that in mind when I said you had to stay in the infirmary, but it works too,” Will said, stretching out his arms. “Though you’re still not allowed to use your ghost powers.”

Nico frowned. “I’ll do whatever I want, thank you very much,” he replied, walking away from Will. He wasn’t sure where he was going exactly, though he didn’t really want to get away from Will. In fact, he wanted Will to follow him, and true to his stubborn nature, Will trailed after Nico.

“And you can – as long as that doesn’t involve shadow-travelling, summoning skeletal warriors, picking fights with the monsters who stuck around camp borders even after Gaea was evaporated –”

“That sounds like the beginning of a very long list you won’t be able to enforce.”

“Uh-huh, try me,” Will said, crossing his arms over his chest, a smile tugging at his lips upwards. Nico felt the skeletal butterflies in his stomach again, and he hoped at least these skeletons were permitted in Will’s list. He glanced away quickly and tried to scowl but it really wasn’t working out too well.

They kept walking north away from the Big House and the now Roman-free strawberry fields in a comfortable silence. For once, the sounds of other campers enjoying themselves at night didn’t make him feel lonely. In fact, in some odd way, he felt like he _belonged_.

“So, don’t tell me you’re going to leave the camp now.”

Nico looked beside him to see Will staring straight at him. “Well…” he began, just to tease him a little. He didn’t know what put him in that mood, but something in him wanted to see Will’s reaction. The last time he had mentioned leaving forever was in the midst of war, and Will had been so angry that Nico was absolutely floored by the show of emotions for him. Though he didn’t have time to respond due to the fact that they could have died. Still, he was rendered completely speechless.

“Because if you decided to leave, that would be just plain stupid.”

Nico tried to contain a smile, biting the inside of his cheek and looking down at the grass as he continued walking.

“Like _really_ stupid.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Like so stupid it would be incomprehensible.”

“Yep.”

“So stupid that I would go on a solo-quest to find you and convince you that you’re being stupid – which is _also_ stupid because going on a solo-quest without a prophecy or godly guidance is a death wish.”

“So, the epitome of stupid.”

“Exactly. That’s how mad I’ll be.”

Nico paused. He had walked all the way into the empty amphitheatre now, back in the place where they had their first full conversation last winter. After everything that had happened, it felt like ages ago. He turned to look at Will, who was eyeing him warily like he thought Nico was just going to shadow-travel at any moment.

Nico was about to say that he was sorry for breaking Will’s flute, but he blurted out something else instead. Maybe it was because of the nostalgic setting, or dim almost romantic lighting, or the way that he felt jumpy inside all day whenever he looked at Will, but the words tumbled out of him without filter.

“I like boys.”

Will blinked and stared at him, having been caught off guard. Nico stared back, wondering what part of his brain made him say that and how Cupid could have travelled all the way to Long Island to torment him further. Oh boy. Nico had wanted to wait until he knew that Will might also be interested before saying anything at all. Gods know that –

“So do I,” Will said almost slowly, interrupting Nico in the middle of his thoughts. “And?”

Nico almost gawked at him. Well, that was one way to find out Will’s interest.

“Well I,” Nico began, almost stammering uncharacteristically through his words. His heart was pounding hard against his chest and he felt like his own skeleton was about to break free of own body. His nerves were going haywire at this point and he wasn’t sure if this were actually real or whether it was a dream. It was one thing telling Percy about his faded crush in the morning – this was – this was – “I thought I wouldn’t be welcomed.”

Will’s expression got soft. “The world sucks, I know. But as long as we’ve got each other’s back, we’ll be okay. And the others at camp – trust me, they’re welcoming.” His words were gentle, like he was coaxing an injured baby deer out from its hiding place. Nico was caught up staring into his eyes, letting Will’s voice soothe over every single wound before Nico blinked himself out of it.

“Are you charmspeaking me?” he asked. His throat felt dry.

“What? No! The point is, it’s okay if you like other boys, Nico. There’s nothing wrong with it. And if anyone says otherwise, well, let’s just say they’ll have to get another medic to look after them,” Will said.

“I…thanks,” Nico said, looking down again. He noticed that he was twisting his skull ring nervously and he forced his hands to rest at his sides. “I meant to say that I was planning to stay at Camp Half-Blood. You know, Hades cabin and all. Needs redecorating.” He had said this to Jason in the morning and meant it, but now it felt like an excuse that hid his true, developing feelings for Will Solace. “Sorry for breaking your flute, by the way,” Nico added before Will could say anything else.

Will shrugged, letting the topic go. “I barely managed to save you in the end. It would be better if that flute could have teleported me to you or something equally good.”

“I would have been long dead if you hadn’t gotten hold of those seeds,” Nico refuted. “Plus, you probably would have died in that bronze jar with me if you could teleport. It was pretty stuffy in there. You saved my life. Thank you.” And really, he meant it. Nico could talk big about knowing that he was going to die eventually, but he was still scared, and at that moment in time he really was scared out of his mind. If it hadn’t been for Will, Nico wasn’t sure if he would have made it out of there.

Will looked away, a light blush appearing on his cheeks. “Well I’m glad I was useful for once.”

“For once?” Nico pressured, frowning now. “Try _all the time_.”

Will shook his head, holding out his hands in front of him and staring at his palms. “My powers are pretty useless. I mean, you can summon undead armies while I can barely shoot an arrow. I think that counts as useless by demigod standards.”

Nico took a step forward, reaching out and putting a hand over Will’s palm to lower them. His hands felt tingly when they touched, just like that time in the winter when Nico was still oblivious to the fact that something in him found Will undeniably attractive. “If you say that again, I will summon some undead armies to bully you until you take that back.”

“Hey, I said that was against doctor’s orders!”

Nico ignored him and kept going. “When both camps were about to charge at each other, you stopped them with your – your whistle thing. You practically stopped everyone from obliterating each other before the real war began.”

“That was nothing,” Will argued. “You were the one who fought the front lines of the battle.”

“And you were the one who was reducing the casualties – you saved at least dozens of lives out there,” Nico insisted.

“But you were the one who suggested changing the firing trajectory of the onagers – I would say that’s pretty much what saved the entire camp from being destroyed in a fiery explosion.”

“And we were almost caught, but you were thinking quick and created a diversion when we were disabling the onagers – by leading a goose-chase for six Romans with only a dagger as defense!”

“That was just stupid. And speaking of stupidly brave, you were literally planning to shadow-travel into the commander’s tent and single-handedly assassinate Octavian right before the battle began!”

“But you prevented me because you could tell I wouldn’t make it if I did try to shadow-travel to him. Which was a good call, by the way, even if I was mad about it.”

They looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing. Nico didn’t know that it could feel this good to be around someone else. His chest felt bubbly and his face was warm, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t because of the summer heat or the bonfire. He glanced over at Will, whose cheeks were red from laughing.

“I still think you were really brave out there,” Nico finally said.

“And same to you.”

“Okay but,” Nico began to protest and then stopped himself before they could go down that road again. “The point is that you’re _not_ useless. And don’t forget about the battle at Camp three years ago too. You were on the front lines sometimes, even if you were mainly focusing on healing the wounded enough so they could get out of the warzone.”

“I remember,” Will said. “I almost got killed.”

Nico almost rolled his eyes, but endearingly. “But you didn’t.”

“And that was thanks to _you_. I still remember it. You stopped a monster from cutting me in half and you basically shielded me. If you were good three years ago, you’re an even better swordsman now.”

Nico felt himself almost blush. The butterflies in his stomach were bashing against each other now and he thought that if Will gave him any more compliments, he would probably spontaneously combust. Nico knew he was developing a crush on Will ever since they disabled onagers together, but with each moment he spent talking to Will, he could feel himself falling harder for him. It was never this way with Percy. “You watch how I fight?” he asked before he could stop himself.

For one second, Nico thought that was a stupid question to ask that would most certainly give away his feelings if they weren’t already obvious. But the tips of Will’s ears turned red and he had a caught-in-the-headlights look. “I – do you watch how I heal people?” Will demanded before Nico could poke fun at him.

And that would have been a stupid response too, but Nico _did_ watch how Will healed people, and barely an hour ago back in the infirmary. He blushed, looking down at the ground and then back up to Will. “Uh, well,” Nico began, unable to lie his way through it, especially with the memory now running through his mind.

A smile started to spread on Will’s lips. “So you do watch me heal.”

“Shut up,” Nico said with a scowl, blushing furiously now and refusing to look Will in the eye. Of course Will was intuitive enough that he would pick out another telltale of his obvious attraction to him.

“Okay, now that I’ve pried it out of you, I’ll admit that I do watch you fight. But only because we’re always nearby on the battlefield! It’s not like I purposely seek you out or anything,” Will added quickly, though he was turning a deep shade of red and Nico felt a grin spread across his face. “You’re good. It’s – mesmerizing. Because you’re so good at it, of course. I mean!” The words were rushed, and Will looked like he was about to start choking on embarrassment if he said anything else. Nico was tempted to tease him about it the same way Will teased him earlier, seeing as how red Will was turning. But he decided to let it go and allow Will to quickly change the subject. There would always be time to tease him back, now that he had decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood. Besides, that was perfect ammunition for making Will lose his usual easygoing confidence and turn into an admittedly _cute_ flustered mess.

“Anyways,” Will said, clearing his throat. “Don’t feel bad about that flute I gave you last year. I got a new one.” He reached into his bag and brought out a case. When he opened it, he quickly attached the three pieces of the flute together and put the case away in his bag. Then he held the flute in position like he was going to play it. “Ta-da.”

“Apollo gave that to you?”

“Well, no,” Will said, lowering the flute. “It’s a regular flute. I felt a little nostalgic after not having the one dad gave me anymore. I’ve had that magic flute since forever, and I’d never given it to anyone. Once it was gone, I felt kind of like I was missing something important. So, I bought a new one.”

“I thought you said you had no musical talents except for that whistle thing,” Nico deadpanned.

Will winced. “You didn’t have to put it _that_ way. I said I have _few_ musical talents. One of them involves an ultrasonic whistle, and the one of them involves flute playing. And well, you asked me if I was going to play that flute I gave you for the sing-along, and it gave me an idea.” He pressed the flute to his mouth and began to play.

Will wasn’t lying when he said it was a musical talent, because the melody was almost intoxicating. Nico was immediately drawn to the music. He wanted to lie down on the ground at Will’s feet and listen to him play the flute forever, and even then, it didn’t feel like that would be nearly long enough. The melody started off slow and gentle, like snowflakes drifting through the Underworld’s garden. Then it felt like sunlight was dancing soft patterns onto his skin, etching a golden path for waxy flower petals to drift across his skin, making its tender way to his heart and warming the centre of his chest.

The music stopped and Nico realized that he had closed his eyes. When he opened them, he discovered that he was standing just a few inches away from Will’s face. The flute was now hanging loosely in Will’s hand as they stared at each other in amazement.

“Will Solace,” Nico said. They were so close now that Nico could see that there were golden flecks among the blue in his irises. “Are you trying to serenade me?”

Will smiled, still looking like he thought he was half-dreaming. “Maybe?”

Nico was the one who leaned forward, reaching a hand out to cup Will’s chin and pressed their lips together. The butterflies went wild in Nico’s stomach, going through so many lifecycles that Nico could barely keep track. Will let out a soft noise before he relaxed into the kiss, bringing his free hand to rest in Nico’s hair, massaging his scalp gently as they kissed. Nico pulled away and sighed in contentment against Will’s mouth, pressing their foreheads together before Will swooped him up into another kiss that made Nico feel like he was melting straight into the ground. It was amazing.

“You think there’s anybody here this early?” someone’s voice was saying in the distance and then there was an: “Oh.”

Through all his fears about being rejected for his feelings about boys, Nico was hesitant to draw away from Will’s warmth. When he finally pulled away, he was greeted with the sight of Percy and Annabeth, who was grinning. The former, meanwhile, had his mouth open and was gaping like a fish out a water.

“Hi,” Nico greeted dazedly, his voice a pitch higher than usual.

Annabeth elbowed Percy when he didn’t respond.

“I came for the sing-along,” Percy said monotonously like he was reading a script. “Sorry to interrupt. I will leave now.”

“No, we’re just starting. Come sit down,” Will said casually like Percy hadn’t witnessed _Nico’s first ever kiss_. Nico turned to the side and brought his hand up to his mouth, rubbing his lips with his fingers absentmindedly. Kisses were special, sure, but Nico hadn’t known it would feel so good. He wanted to skip the sing-along and head somewhere else (like the sand dunes maybe) and kiss Will until the curfew harpies came to shoo them off. It was _that_ good.

When Annabeth passed by Nico, she gave him a smile and a pat on the back, though Nico was still wondering if the kiss really happened or if he made up the whole thing in his head.

“I – wow – congratulations, man,” Percy said like he still didn’t even know what was going on. Then he looked like he wanted to continue the conversation from the morning: “So you mean –”

“Come on, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, dragging him down to a seat as more people started to enter the amphitheatre.

Nico took this as his cue to also take a seat. He was still half in daze, and he wondered if this was how Percy felt in the morning when he told him that he used to have a crush on him. Though Will immediately reached forward, grabbing his hand and linking their fingers together. Nico met his eyes and Will grinned as they walked together. He felt his face flushing completely red and he was certain everybody could see how embarrassed he was, but if anybody noticed their handholding, they didn’t say anything.

“Ask permission next time,” Nico said when they had taken a seat, though his heart wasn’t completely into scolding him. 

“For the kisses?” Will asked a little too innocuously.

“For the handholding,” Nico said, exasperated and affectionate at the same time. Their hands were still entwined on top of the seats between them, and Nico felt warm from the connection. Well, maybe he didn’t want Will to ask permission if even handholding felt this nice…

“How about the kisses?” Will asked.

Before he lost his nerve, Nico leaned in again, his lips barely an inch to Will’s. Will’s eyelids lowered in response and his mouth parted slightly, preparing for the brush of Nico’s lips – and then Nico kissed him lightly on the tip of his nose before pulling back with a grin.

“I think I should be the one who initiates them,” Nico joked, laughing at the startled expression on Will’s face. Will quickly shook himself out of it, looking thoughtful.

“But if I kissed you now, would you be against it?” Will asked Nico in total seriousness.

“Well, no,” Nico admitted. Even though there were people milling around them in the amphitheatre now, he didn’t mind if other people saw him kissing Will. Nico didn’t feel like a creepy outcast anymore – Will was right. Once Nico had begun opening up and trusting people, everybody seemed so much friendlier, wanting to know him instead of shooing him away. He felt welcomed, for once in his life. Before he could add anything else, Will had already leaned in, pressing a pleasant kiss against his lips. With an audience nearby, Nico felt like his insides were being liquefied, and not in a bad way.

He could hear some whistles and someone else saying, “Go get ‘em, Solace!” before Will pulled away. This time, Will was the one who looked lovestruck and dazed with a dopey smile on his lips. Nico could have kissed him again if not for someone else teasingly asking Will if he was going to start the sing-along like he was supposed to or if they were just here to watch Will and Nico make out all night.

Nico was blushing even after Will untangled their hands to play an upbeat melody on his flute to start the sing-along, letting the music carry their feelings of enthusiasm and joy for new beginnings into the air. And when the sing-along took off completely, Nico found his own voice rising up steadily beside Will’s music, filling up the night air with his own song of happiness.

And when he looked up at the smattering of stars across the sky, Nico thought, this is what it’s like to have a home. He looked back down to see Will staring at him with an expression like wonder, and Nico leaned in to kiss Will again.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [beauregardance](http://beauregardance.tumblr.com) on tumblr where I mostly write dumb textposts about pjo and reblog things mostly related (like Classics)!


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